Druley: Area schools headed to Chicago Catholic League

Marmion, Aurora Christian, St. Francis, Montini and Marian Central are set to merge from the dissolving Suburban Christian Conference into the Chicago Catholic League in football and boys soccer beginning in the 2014-15 school year.

While athletic directors still must determine landing spots for other sports, consider the move a major relief given the events of May 2, when seven schools announced plans to leave the SCC for the Metro Suburban Conference after 2013-14.

“It’s going to be kind of cool playing some of the schools in the new league,” Marmion athletic director Joe Chivari said. “Being in the west ’burbs, we hear of all these big-name schools around Chicago, and now some of those big-name schools are going to be coming out this way.”

The addition will prompt the creation of four five-team divisions in football – Blue, Green, White and Red.

Marmion will join Fenwick, Marian Central, Montini and St. Francis in the Green.

Aurora Christian heads to the White to compete with Bishop McNamara, De La Salle, St. Ignatius and St. Lawrence.

Soccer divisional alignments will be announced at a later date, “but will be based on geography and parity” per a news release.

“We know we’re going to be traveling a lot more, but that’s I think a minor [trade-off] considering the quality conference that we’ll be participating in,” Chivari said. “I think we got the better end of this deal.”

Speaking on behalf of the other SCC athletic directors, Chivari said “we haven’t really nailed it down what we want to do” with other sports.

Marmion, Aurora Christian, St. Francis, Montini and Marian Central have been invited to participate in conference tournaments, but are not part of regular-season scheduling at present.

“I would like to think we’ll [decide] all as one,” Chivari said. “There’s a remote possibility a school would just do it on their own with the CCL in a particular sport, but hard to say.”

Send them an Angel: Last weekend’s Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft proved a drought for Chronicle-area talent compared to past Junes.

One draftee attended Glenbard North, but his family since has relocated to Geneva.

But wait, there’s more about Los Angeles Angels pickup Brian Loconsole, who was selected Saturday in the 20th round (607th overall).

A right-hander out of Western Illinois, the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Loconsole played football at Glenbard North, but not baseball.

A standout season at Moraine Valley Community College earned him a look from the Leathernecks, who gradually increased his workload after Loconsole redshirted as a sophomore in 2010.

Loconsole led Western Illinois with 22 appearances this past spring, finishing 3-2 with a 2.86 ERA while striking out 23 in 281/3 innings.

He also had a team-record nine saves.

Loconsole’s mother said Loconsole expects to sign with the Angels soon.

The Philadelphia Phillies, meanwhile, selected former St. Charles East righty Chris Burgess in the 26th round, 781st overall.

Burgess, now with Oklahoma Christian, was pitching with Black Hawk College when Tampa Bay picked him in the 30th round in 2011.

• Kevin Druley is a sportswriter for the Kane County Chronicle. He can be reached at 630-845-5347 or kdruley@shawmedia.com.